Help smoking Team-BHP members quit smoking

This is a discussion on Help smoking Team-BHP members quit smoking within Shifting gears, part of the Around the Corner category; Originally Posted by Equus
Its been over 9 months since I smoked! I feel so good, both physically and mentally ...

I started smoking 90-91 and have been smoking ever since. Capstan, Four Square, Charminar were my regular brands in 90's before I settled on Wills Navy Cut & finally Gold Flake. In between for some 3 years was purely on rolled paper cigarettes (capstan/prince henry tobacco).

Used to smoke some 10-15 a day -- in one of my jobs, my nickname used to be 'dhuan ki khan'. (like I will be where ever you see smoke coming). Had the usual routine of having cigge first thing waking up and after each meal, with each tea etc etc.

Over the years, I first stopped smoking at home and then stopped/reduced smoking when alone . Then this September, after returning from an off-road outing, just stopped all together and that too with no planning or anything in mind. Didn't enjoy the smokes so had stopped for few days and those few days of non-smoking are continuing till today. It's been 6 months now since i smoked and no craving or anything. All my friends smoke and no urge what so ever to share a cigge.

There are a lot of signals in your post that are cause for concern. Have you quit because of pressure from someone else? If that is the case there is a chance you may go back to the habit. I am not trying to discourage you but the use of words like "overconfidence" in your post gave me that feeling.

Take my advice...stay clear about your goal no matter what anyone else says. It will help.

You may be right!
No visible indications with health so far that forced me to quit, no real high pressure from loved once so far (except my kid telling me to do so for quite some time, I have been telling him that I will quit soon, he even spoke about this in front of my parents a couple times which I'm hiding it from them but never told my kid to not speak about this, we usually give him full freedom of talking anything, anywhere - those were embarrassing moments though).
Even if the pressure from loved ones or doctors is not a case, this can very well come back. I have been lucky so far with no cravings at all right from the begging, I'm happy that my mind and body adopted it so well so far. Sometimes, I feel that I'm overconfident about this since I haven't faced any issues achieving this one of the biggest things in my life. I'm taking your advise and going to stay clear, always, all the times. I've been living happy 14 months so far and will continue to do so
Thank you.

happy to hear so many of you have managed to kick the habit. Very happy for you all. I have been trying to quit smoking since last 1 year and so far there has been no progress at all. I have tried nicotine tabs but its not being much helpful.

I'd posted here earlier, a few years ago (can't find that post) about having quit - from a very heavy smoker to cold turkey, in a flash (no pun intended)! And I'm still cold, four plus years later. I have absolutely no urge to light up again.

But what does bother me somewhat are the dreams where I see myself smoking. And the frequency of that has been on the rise of late, so I'm a little wary of its ramifications.

I smoked for 30 years, and had quit once more before, only to restart after a five-year hiatus. So, I also have to cross the five-year milestone first to improve on the previous attempt. However, the fact that I can't stand passive tobacco smoke at all now, gives me confidence that I may be able to pull it off yet, this time.

But what does bother me somewhat are the dreams where I see myself smoking.

They are weird. In one of my first post-giving-up-dreams, I was telling a friend that I no longer smoked, while puffing away on a cigarette! She said, "What's that, then?" And I went, "Oh!!!" as if I had no clue what I was doing, and stubbed it out.

I don't remember how long I kept having those dreams. They never became regular. That they happen at all might be an indication of how deep into our subconscious minds the addiction reaches, and for how long.

All the best with continuing to be a nonsmoker. To start again after a multi-year period of abstinence always seems to me to be such a waste, but the addiction always lurks.

I started smoking around 1999-2000 , so cigarette was one of my best friends for 13 years . It was with me through all the ups and downs of my life .

Recently I noticed a lump just below my right ear and went to ENT .While checking out the lump he spent good 10 minutes in "peeping" in my mouth .

After checking he asked me if I smoke , after listening to answer and tenure he told me that I have some white patches in my mouth and should stop smoking IMMEDIATELY . This scared the day lights out of me , but he assured that as of now I should not worry about the patches but should stop smoking as these white patches can progress to cancer after sometime
He told me that the damage caused by tobacco can be estimated by "pack year " which is calculated by -
Number of pack years = (packs smoked per day) × (years as a smoker)

Today is my THIRD day without cigarette and it feels miserable but I plan to hang on .

So quitting was on my mind for a while. With the arrival of Junior, it became a more serious consideration. But I was playing up the whole idea of quitting and cold-turkey too much.

> Sunday night at the pharmacy - Generally checked out Nicotex from Cipla and decided to buy a pack. I thought maybe this will help.

> Monday morning, on way to work I went to buy my B&H pack and the shop didn't have it. Was getting late so decided I'll go without a smoke. Didn't smoke at lunch. Decided not to smoke while driving back from work. Avoided smoking at night. Felt good about it. Decided its a good time to quit altogether. Its Tuesday evening and am doing alright.

I don't want to overrate the whole quitting process and hence am taking it one day at a time. I realized that tomorrow never came when I kept thinking about quitting and today happened when I hadn't planned to quit.

in the future, I don't even mind if I smoke now and then actually. I just want to be totally indifferent to the idea of smoking.

Like alcohol, It should be something I do when I feel like and not whenever I need to.
Let's see how this goes. Am going to be more regular at the gym and see if I can feel the difference.

Try to realise that you are not feeling miserable because you've stopped smoking --- you are feeling miserable because you used to smoke!

Probably the best quote on quitting smoking that I have ever come across.

I am a non-smoker but have tried it on a few rare occasions. Frankly I never felt that its something that will become a habit. But the risks of smoking over-weigh far enough the benefits (I wonder if there is any?) For this reason, I have not lit the white candle even for once in last 4 years!